my nose twitches I smell Naphthalene & body dodges an ant-Farm of people plucking shelves I wish I had wings & hovered & hummed
instead we are an Inching hostage snail or Masquerade or Procession
& The Cashier Says: “Thank-you”
& “Come again”
& we Gather Our Things & just like That
We’re Gone!
Daniel Miess is a graduate student at Chapman University and is a part of their Master of Arts in English/Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program. His work has been published in the Harbinger Asylum, the Henniker Review, Smoky Quartz Literary Magazine, Mud Chronicles: A New England Anthology, Anastamos: Library Edition, and Adelaide Independent Literary Magazine. He is a reader for TAB: The Journal of Poetry and Poetics and is a Teaching Assistant at Chapman University. He lives with his husband of seven and a half years, Kelly Bellimer. When not writing or in class, enjoys traveling, going to art museums (at least pre-pandemic) and reading.